GENEROUS runners from across York and the surrounding area are making their final preparations for the Great North Run, which takes place tomorrow.

Running shoes are being cleaned, energy food and drink consumed and fancy dress costumes tested as the starter's gun approaches.

Participants are expecting to raise thousands of pounds in sponsorship cash for charities across the York area and nationwide.

A group of 120 runners from York will travel to Tyneside tomorrow, some of whom plan to raise money for Action Research.

Fundraisers hope to collect up to £10,000 for the charity, which supports medical research into the prevention of disabilities.

About 50 of the group are firs-time runners and have been trained by members of the York running club, Knavesmire Harriers.

Club member Gill Gill, who will be running dressed as a nurse, said the event was a wonderful opportunity to make friends and promote the sport.

Maria Turner, who has worked at the cigarette counter at the Tesco Clifton Moor store for 14 years, will also be taking part.

The 44-year-old mother-of-three has been training for nine months and hopes to raise £150 for cystic fibrosis.

Colleague Rosie Lawson, who has been helping her collect sponsorship, said Maria was nervous, but excited, about facing the 13-mile course. Three nurses from the district nursing team will be running in aid of Breakthrough, a breast cancer charity.

Jackie Pattison, Lisa Mole and Linda McDonagh, who work for Minster Health, in Monkgate, York, hope to raise up to £1,000 through sponsorship from businesses, family and friends.

Meanwhile Alistair Dent, of Fulford, who suffered from a childhood degenerative bone disease, will be running the course barefoot.

Mr Dent, who has two children, finds running without shoes easier, but expects that this will be his last Great North Run.

Meanwhile, a marathon effort to call for the freedom of deaf charity worker Ian Stillman is being made this weekend.

Nigel Brown, from Temple Garth, Copmanthorpe, will tell thousands that the man, jailed in India for cannabis possession, is innocent.

For each step of the 13.1 miles of tomorrow's run, he will parade the message Free Ian Stillman.

The logo has been printed on the front of a T-shirt he will wear. On the back is Ian Stillman is Innocent.

Ian, 52, whose parents live in Tadcaster Road, York, is serving a ten-year sentence in an Indian jail.

A committed Christian, he has always denied the charges.

The Evening Press has been campaigning for his release after he was denied a sign language translator at this trial, effectively excluding him from taking any part.

Mr Brown, who is taking part in the Great North Run for the third time, said: "I am a member of Copmanthorpe Methodist Church and we have been praying for Ian for quite some time.

"Anything that keeps Ian in the public eye is worth doing."

Updated: 11:39 Saturday, October 05, 2002